A crazy game with an agonising ending, with Liverpool’s self-destruction summarised by one costly moment of madness.
Having thrown away a lead in normal time, the Reds recovered to restore their advantage in the additional 30 minutes, only to shoot themselves in the foot once more.
In the 112th minute, Darwin Nunez gave the ball away less than 30 yards from goal and was made to pay for his sloppiness as Marcus Rashford thumped home the equaliser, before Amad Diallo won it on the stroke of full-time.
In response to the Uruguayan’s mistake, Sky Sports reporter Pete Gill posted on the broadcaster’s live web commentary (17:56): “Liverpool punished for failing to clear their lines. It’s crazy from Nunez.”
A minute later, Lewis Jones added: “Nunez – the orchestrator of chaos. Can’t keep him quiet. So sloppy from him.”
Those verdicts from the Sky Sports duo sum up what a silly and costly moment it was from Nunez. Normally so effective at the other end of the pitch, today was a performance to forget from the in-form 24-year-old.
As per Sofascore, he completed only 14 of his 26 passes for a woeful 54% success rate, while also losing possession 18 times, with one of those instances ultimately changing the course of the match definitively.
It’d be wrong to pin today’s result entirely on the Uruguayan, as Liverpool in general failed to manage the game and should’ve put United to bed when dominant during normal time.
Sometimes you get away with such moments in your own half. Unfortunately for Nunez and his team, today wasn’t one of them.
Alas, he’ll have to just learn from it and try to get back among the goals against Brighton in a fortnight’s time.
